Typically, the common practice for displaying small and lightweight retail items, such as batteries, cosmetics, toys, hardware items and the like, is to package the items in thermoformed blister packages and place the packages on shelves or hang the packages on hooks on various display racks. Conventional battery packages include a display card which provides a generally stiff, supportive backing, usually composed of cardboard, and a thermoformed polymeric blister that is bonded to the display card. The display card provides for displaying the merchandise for sale and contains print with suitable indicia such as advertising and instructions. The thermoformed blister generally includes a clear polymeric material, e.g., plastic, that, together with the display card, defines a cavity, generally having a shape to fit over and cover the products contained within a package. The blister isolates the products from the purchaser and prevents inadvertent damage that can result from repeated handling prior to sale, while further allowing for the orderly display of products for sale to purchasers.
With battery display packages, batteries of the same size are commonly made available to consumers for purchase in a package containing a predetermined number of batteries. The batteries are displayed and sold in blister-type packages which usually contain four, eight, sixteen, or twenty batteries, and other numbers of batteries, commonly packaged in each display package. According to one approach, the blister is heat-sealed on one side of the cardboard display card. According to another approach, the display card is made of two layers of cardboard with an aperture formed in one of the cardboard layers. The polymeric blister typically has a peripheral flange that is disposed (and optionally glued) between the two layers of cardboard of the display card. Additionally, each display package typically has a through-hole formed in the display card near the top so that the package can be hung on a hook on a display stand in a retail store for display to consumers. The packages containing larger numbers of batteries can include multiple through-holes within the display card of the package where additional support may be beneficial. Within many packages, multiple sets of batteries can be positioned within the cavity defined between the display card and the blister. Generally, where multiple batteries are disposed within the same package, such as packages containing eight, ten, sixteen or more batteries, the batteries are positioned in two or more sets within the cavity of the display package. Generally, display packages having larger numbers of batteries include packages containing smaller types of batteries, such as AAA(R03)-, AA(R6)-size batteries, and the like, although large packs of larger batteries can be provided.
It is desirable to provide a display package that provides visibility for a back row of product to be displayed above a front row of product, where multiple rows of products, such as batteries, are disposed within a single display package. It is also desirable to create a package that provides this added visibility to a back row of product without creating a display package that includes geometries that may be cost-prohibitive or otherwise uneconomical to manufacture.